Author: Jeffer

Vulcaneering at Mt. Bulusan Pt 1: From Bulusan Lake To Camp

As early as the end of January, plans have already been made for us to go on a climb to Mt. Bulusan in Irosin, Sorsogon during the Holy Week on the first week of April. Calendars have been marked, leaves of absences from work have been initially filed, bus tickets have been booked… Holy Week came around, and Typhoon Maysak loomed, with all forecasts saying that the region where Mt. Bulusan is located will get the brunt of the typhoon. (So we moved things around a bit and decided to head up north, instead, to Batad. I chronicled that trip in these posts.) We then moved our Mt. Bulusan adventure to Labor Day weekend.  Continue reading “Vulcaneering at Mt. Bulusan Pt 1: From Bulusan Lake To Camp” →

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Exploring Capisaan Cave in Nueva Vizcaya

The first cave I explored was the Sumaguing Cave in Sagada, Mountain Province. That was way back in 2007. The second, although it may not be strictly a cave, was the one at the Underground River in Palawan. The third were the Ambongdolan Caves in nearby Tublay, Benguet. For my fourth, it’s the Capisaan Cave in Nueva Vizcaya… and I have to say it’s the best I have seen so far. Let me give you a glimpse of it the best I can. Continue reading “Exploring Capisaan Cave in Nueva Vizcaya” →

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Samal Island: Hagimit Falls Nature Park

Next to the mountains, my next favorite things are waterfalls. There’s just something relaxing and soothing about seeing a cascade of water – big or small. And when we went to Samal Island, we were fully aware of how limited our time was, so it was just Maxima Aquafun on our minds. And then, while riding on the tricycle on the way to the Resort, we passed by the turnoff leading to Hagimit Falls. Our trike driver suggested we stop by there later on the way back to the Wharf. And so we did exactly that.
Continue reading “Samal Island: Hagimit Falls Nature Park” →

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Samal Island: Slidin’ & Blobbin’ at Maxima Aquafun

I was supposed to post about something else but, in an act of pure defiance, I’m switching things a bit to talk about something actually… sunny and fair. You see, it has been two weeks since rain started pouring in my corner of the country, and it hasn’t stopped since. If not for the quick day trip I made to Quezon City yesterday, I’d have never seen the sun! Now I’m back, and it’s raining more than ever, so I will look back on our sunny day trip to Samal Island more than a couple of months ago, specifically at the Maxima Aquafun.  Continue reading “Samal Island: Slidin’ & Blobbin’ at Maxima Aquafun” →

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Drive-by: The Rice Terraces of Banaue

Road trips, at least in the minds of most Filipinos today, call to mind those teen flicks and indie films (That Thing Called Tadhana, anyone?) that have been released in recent years. If you’re of the older generation, however, it’d be more like tales of Bonnie and Clyde and hitchhikers that look like Brad Pitt. But movie references aside, road trips are the perfect representation of the “journey being as worthwhile as the destination”. The idea is to take stops – y’know, other than bathroom breaks on roadside cafes and (dis)comfort rooms – and check out what you are passing through. On our Plan B is for Batad getaway, we stopped by Banaue on our way to Bontoc. And here are some snaps and snippets that I want to share about that.  Continue reading “Drive-by: The Rice Terraces of Banaue” →

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JapanEats: Nakau (Tennoji)

There is a downside to finding yourself with a little bit of free time on your hands: you don’t know what to do with it, and yet you can think of so many things you want to do but, for some reason, you can’t. So you end up doing what you did not really intend on doing. (Did that make sense so far?) Take right now, for example. Weather’s foul outside, I am in between writing projects, and there’s a bit of a window where I can opt to not work. So I clean up my hard drive, and stumble upon photos that I forgot existed. Like these ones taken of the fastfood/restaurant, NAKAU in Osaka. Continue reading “JapanEats: Nakau (Tennoji)” →

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Kyoto, Japan 2014: Fall Illumination at Kiyomizudera

I have one complaint about Kyoto: there are simply too many places that are worth checking out that, for someone like me who has a limited number of days to spend in the area, it’s almost tragic. While mapping out where we want to go, it was with a heavy heart that we had to slash many of them on the list. Kiyomizudera was one of those places that we had to let go of. But, one evening, while walking around aimlessly in the Gion area looking for a place to eat, Peach and I bumped into Sheryl, Hazel and another new friend, Jas. And plans were changed.
Continue reading “Kyoto, Japan 2014: Fall Illumination at Kiyomizudera” →

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One Night At Mt. Jumbo of La Trinidad

The month of July has finally rolled around, and the powers-that-be has declared that, yes, the rainy season is finally upon us. During this latter half of the year, there is a smaller chance of going on treks and hikes, because there is always the rain to ruin even the best-laid plans. But we take what we can get, and we are lucky that we have the nearby Mt. Jumbo of La Trinidad to tide us over, at least until we can find another hike-worthy spot to explore. Continue reading “One Night At Mt. Jumbo of La Trinidad” →

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JapanEats: Kyoto-Gion Mimikou

It felt like forever since I last made a food-related post, I’m feeling hungry. And I just finished watching all 17 episodes of tvN’s “Let’s Eat 2” which, I must say, has enough food porn to make me hungry every time I watch an episode. Darn all those Korean food; they all look sooooo sooooo good! I gotta make sure I taste some of them when I go to Seoul in a couple of months. 🙂 Until then, I’ll just have to flash back to some of the places we ate at when we were in Japan. This time, it’s this small, nondescript place in Gion, MIMIKOU. Continue reading “JapanEats: Kyoto-Gion Mimikou” →

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OdysStay: Where to Stay in Batad and Bontoc

In every journey, pit and rest stops are a given, and I felt it only right to share some info about mine. I consider it my small way of providing something helpful and informative, as opposed to just talking about what I’ve seen and what I did. If that even makes sense. #odysSTAY will chronicle what I remember of the places that served as my shelter on my various adventures. For this post, I will be talking about the two places we stayed at during our “Plan B” road trip through Batad and Bontoc.

Continue reading “OdysStay: Where to Stay in Batad and Bontoc” →

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The Batad Rice Terraces

They say some things are sweeter the second time around. In case of travel or, to be more precise, visiting one place for the second time, that could be a hit or a miss. It’s a hit if the place, which you absolutely loved the first time around, did not change or, even if it did, it changed only in good ways. It’s a miss if it’s the opposite: the changes weren’t good. How was my second visit to the Batad Rice Terraces, you ask? Read on.
Continue reading “The Batad Rice Terraces” →

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The Road to Batad

The key phrase for this 5-part posting arc is “Plan B is for Batad”. It’s a bit of a long story, but I’ll try to make it short: early February we made plans to climb Mt. Bulusan in Irosin, Sorsogon during the Holy Week, and we were able to sort everything out. The week before Holy Week, news about Typhoon Maysak wreaking havoc and doing a direct hit in that region made us scramble and look for a Plan B. So we rearranged the Mt. Bulusan details for Labor Day weekend, and proceeded up north, instead, to Batad, Ifugao.  Continue reading “The Road to Batad” →

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Why We Climb…

I’m not a mountaineer. I do, however, love going up mountains. Maybe it would be more apt to say that I am a “walker”. I love walking. I enjoy hiking. I derive a certain joy in trekking and just making these legs work to get me somewhere. While I still can. And I’m not prejudiced to mountains and peaks, because I pretty much have my switches turned to “ON” mode when we talk about nature. Continue reading “Why We Climb…” →

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Kyoto, Japan 2014: Maruyama Kouen

This was not really a part of the itinerary. In fact, we weren’t even aware of it. But walking around and following paths aimlessly always leads somewhere, and Maruyama Kouen was where we found ourselves in when we followed a road leading to the back of Yasaka Shrine. And, yes, we were just looking for a place to have a leisurely walk in (and by that, I mean LESS CROWD) while dressed in traditional kimono. Haha!
Continue reading “Kyoto, Japan 2014: Maruyama Kouen” →

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